Think about all of the practices we held close for decades that were changed in an instant due to the pandemic. When groups are disrupted the barrier to change is often lowered and there is little choice but to adapt to the changing conditions. With all of this disruption comes opportunity. This perfect storm offers an amazing opportunity for nursing to leap into the future. The legacy practices of traditional healthcare players will soon no longer be relevant.
Meanwhile, the healthcare system is being dramatically disrupted by new entrants like Amazon Care, Apple, and Google who have an eye for change, a competency in technology, and a mission to deliver cost-effective value to consumers. Our work as a profession has hinged on older education models, manual tasks, and 12-hour shifts, all of which have new evidence showing ways we can improve.
Likewise, nursing is at a similar moment. No late fees, mail order videos, and future-focused technology creation ultimately led to the emergence of the entertainment staple we know today. Meanwhile, a new entrant into the video industry, Netflix, was actively improving on every aspect of the broken Blockbuster model. In short, Blockbuster refused to evolve its business in the face of changing technology and consumer demand and ultimately doubled down on the past practices that led to their initial success. The storied historic failure of the video rental company Blockbuster provides an analogous path for nursing to learn from. Specifically, nursing is at a paradigm-shifting moment and we as a profession have a choice to double down on the past or catalyze ourselves into the future. The COVID-19 pandemic fits squarely into the unthinkable events category and has highlighted both the fractures in our healthcare system and the opportunities to make it better. One of the catalysts of dramatic change in industries when they experience unthinkable events. There is much innovation literature that describes the reasons that industries and markets transform over time.